Main Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Nancy Kwan, Akim Tamiroff, Arthur Malet, Tyler McVey
Release Year: 1966
Country: US
Run Time: 113 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Plot
Dick Van Dyke stars as U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant Robinson Crusoe in one of Disney's weakest comedies. Like in the Daniel Defoe story, Crusoe finds himself alone on a deserted island, but this time he arrives there after ejecting from his disabled plane on a mission in the South Pacific. He befriends a chimp who is part of the space program and long thought to be lost at sea. Soon he meets his girl Wednesday (Nancy Kwan), and the duo is chased by her tribal chieftain father (Akim Tamiroff) who wants his daughter to marry Crusoe. Only the popularity of Dick Van Dyke from his television show and his wonderful performance in Mary Poppins could attribute for the $8 million this misfire brought in at the box office. The highlights of the feature are the special effects. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Pete L. Renoudet - Pilot; Peter Duryea - Co-Pilot; John Dennis - Crew Chief; Nancy Hsueh - Native Girl; Victoria Young - Native Girl; Bebe Louie - Native Girl; Lucia Valero - Native Girl; "Floyd" - The Chimpanzee
Credit
Carroll Clark - Art Director, Carl Anderson - Art Director, Bill Thomas - Costume Designer, Byron Paul - Director, Cotton Warburton - Editor, Robert F. Brunner - Composer (Music Score), Pat McNalley - Makeup, William Snyder - Cinematographer, Ron Miller - Producer, Bill Walsh - Producer, Emile Kuri - Set Designer, Frank R. McKelvey - Set Designer, Peter Ellenshaw - Special Effects, Eustace Lycett - Special Effects, Robert Mattey - Special Effects, Walt Disney - Screen Story, Don DaGradi - Screenwriter, Bill Walsh - Screenwriter, Retlaw Yensid - Short Story Author
While flying a routine mission for the U.S. Navy, an emergency causes Lieutenant Robin Crusoe to eject from his F-8 Crusader into the ocean. Crusoe drifts on the ocean in an emergency life raft for several days and nights until landing on an uninhabited desert island. Crusoe builds a shelter for himself, fashions new clothing out of available materials, and begins to scout the island, discovering an abandoned Japanesesubmarine. Scouring the submarine, Crusoe discovers an astrochimp named Floyd.
Using tools and blueprints found in the submarine, Crusoe and Floyd construct a Japanese pavilion, a golf course, and a mail delivery system for sending bottles containing missives to his fiancee out to sea.
Soon after, Crusoe finds that the island is not entirely uninhabited when he encounters a beautiful island girl, whom he names Wednesday. Wednesday recounts that due her unwillingness to marry, her chieftain father, Tanamashu, plans to human sacrifice her and her sisters to Kaboona, an immense effigy on the island with whom he pretends to communicate.
The day Tanamashu arrives to the island, Crusoe uses paraphernalia from the submarine to combat Tanamashu, culminating in the the destrcution of the Kaboona statue. After the battle, Crusoe and Tanamashu make peace. But when Crusoe makes it known that he does not wish to marry Wednesday, he is forced to flee to avoid her wrath. Pursued by a mob of irate island women, Crusoe is spotted by a U.S. Navy helicopter and he and Floyd narrowly escape with their lives. Large crowds turn out for their arrival on a aircraft carrier deck, but Floyd steals all the limelight.
